


alone together

by clairelutra (exosolarmoon)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Angst, Drabble Collection, Drabble Sequence, F/M, Pack Dynamics, Protectiveness, Puppy Piles, Schmoop, alpha!marinette, i've given up on tagging well, if anyone has suggestions they would be much appreciated, lowkey rose/juleka, omega!adrien
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-08-21
Packaged: 2018-08-08 19:32:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7770262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exosolarmoon/pseuds/clairelutra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>i don't know where you're going</i>
  <br/>
  <i>but do you got room for one more troubled soul?</i>
</p><p>Marinette's got 99 problems, and pretty-boy omegas are about half of them.</p><p>A drabble sequence. On indefinite hiatus.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> now my dark secret is out. now everyone know the truth.
> 
> i'm abo trash.

The biggest problem with alphas was a simple one; they fought — especially when you stuck two of them in a classroom together. 

It was an incredibly simple concept; Adrien didn’t know why it was such a hard one for whoever arranged the classes to grasp.

“There you are,” he sighed in relief, pushing the door to the locker rooms open a little wider so he could duck in next to the girl he’d been sent to track down. “Mme. Bustier was looking for you.”

Marinette’s head snapped up, bloodied snarl on her lips and eyes glinting gold from a recent shift, half cornered animal and half looking for another fight.

Instinctively, Adrien dropped his shoulders and bared his neck, stomach curling and tightening in the same moment.

He didn’t know if he was grateful for being an omega (and therefore a non-threat) or not. 

On one hand, there would be no biting. 

On the other, there would be no biting.

It was a dilemma.

Marinette blinked once, twice, then inhaled, and the snarl vanished like smoke. “A-A-A-Adrien!”

Yup, that was him. He waved.

Marinette flailed, limbs flying in several directions at once. “H-hey there, hot— uh— babe— _owww_ — cutie— Eek! Ouch— I-I mean!”

Adrien watched her aggravate her fresh wounds with a small wince. Injuries aside, though, it was kind of adorable, actually, seeing her this frazzled — normally she was downright smooth.

“L-looking good?” she finally tried, blushing bright red and still covered in scratches and slashes, laid out in a ridiculous ‘paint me like one of your french girls’ pose that looked like it was putting a lot of undue stress on the bitemark on her arm.

“…Thanks,” said Adrien, smiling a little awkwardly and trying very hard not to look like he was thinking exactly the same thing.

(Marinette was built like someone had thought heavy artillery should come in the form of a teenage girl — compact and powerful and present and _confident_ in a way that made his mouth go dry when she smirked — and if it wasn’t for Ladybug…

Well.)

Maybe he tried a little too hard, because Marinette was starting to look self-conscious  She looked away and scrubbed the back of her head, the gesture doing fascinating things to her forearms and the way her shirt pulled across her triceps.

“Do you wanna head back?” Adrien asked, ripping his eyes away from her arms only to fall on her face. He winced again. “…Or maybe go to the nurse’s office?”

Marinette sucked blood away from her split lip and grimaced. “…Maybe.”

Adrien offered her a sympathetic smile and a hand up, and she took both, a little self-deprecating and sulking, but ungrudging.

She let go quickly and did a nearly militaristic about turn, eyes darting between him and the exit. “Well! We-we should… get going!”

Still smiling, Adrien said, “Lead the way.”


	2. Chapter 2

Breathe in, breathe out, don’t look over at Chat, _do_ smile for the cameras, _don’t_ look over at Chat. Just. Don’t.

Ladybug filtered her breath through her teeth and smiled.

Chat, whom she _wasn’t_ looking at, continued to converse with the strange alpha.

If she’d been thinking clearly, this wouldn’t be a problem. Ladybug didn’t have a say in who Chat associated with and she didn’t want one. He was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, and she knew that. She wasn’t his guardian and she certainly wasn’t his alpha — she was a _friend_ , and that was all she ever would be.

Sadly, clear thinking was in short supply today, because the way Chat smelled was taking her common sense and shanking it in a dark alleyway while her hormones stood by and _laughed_.

_Damn_ omega heat cycles.

(Chat’s cycle lined right up with Adrien’s too, which meant she’d been on edge even before walking into _this_ , thanks to being trapped in a classroom with him and Chloe at the same time. Once again, _damn omega heat cycles_.)

At this point in both the press meeting and the disintegration of the heat suppressants she guessed were in Chat’s system, Ladybug’s sanity was hanging on by a single frayed, weather-beaten thread, and the strange alpha. Wasn’t. Helping.

_It’s just talking_ , Ladybug reminded herself firmly, because her smile was getting more forced by the second — a feat, given how forced it had been to start with. _It’s just talking and you are not his mate. You have no right to put a stop to it, so don’t. **Don’t.**_

The alpha had seniority on her by at least ten years anyway; if she flipped her shit on him, there would be _hell_ to pay.

Ladybug turned away, tamping down on her urge to maul the offending gentleman, and stealing one last glance at Chat as she did so, telling herself it was to make sure he was really alright.

Chat’s hands were the first thing she noticed, held up like a barrier between himself and the man leaning over him. The awkward, uncomfortable grimace of a smile came second, and the hunched, avoidant set of his shoulders and spine sank in third.

Ladybug’s itchy, itchy veins turned to ice.

Then the alpha put a hand on Chat’s shoulder, and Chat took a single step back, like an aborted, belated attempt at escape.

And that was _it_.

Ladybug was sort of aware of the room blurring around her, of her core burning hot, of the gasps of the gathered journalists, but they all paled, faded in importance next to the single, helpless little glance Chat had sent her way.

The world only righted itself when she was next to Chat and the creep was on the far side of the room. It still took Ladybug a few seconds to many to realize that the alpha was slumped in the broken remains of a refreshment table and Chat had her by the arm.

“What the hell, Ladybug?” he was hissing through his teeth, physically holding her back from ripping the alpha’s throat out with her teeth. “What the fuck?”

She tried to snarl _mine, **back off**_ at the alpha, but found her throat blocked by the subsonic growl occupying her vocal chords.

Oh well. It made her point anyway.

Chat was babbling excuses at the masses (which struck Ladybug as highly unfair; _they_ should all be babbling excuses at _him_ for allowing that creep in the front door) and pulling her away, and Ladybug let him.

* * *

By the time Chat got them to safety and relative privacy, she’d calmed down enough to form sentences, but only just.

Chat sighed, arms folded as he faced her down.

Ladybug avoided his eye and stared out at the skyline, grateful he’d chosen to stand downwind.

One of the truly unfair things about working with Chat was that he was willing to call her out when she was being unreasonable, and was one of the few who would.

And it was irritating as hell.

(it also kind of made her want to kiss him, just for being willing to tell her where the line was, but that was a _dangerous_ trail of thought when he smelled like goodnight kisses and sleepy morning-afters, and she ignored it with everything in her.) 

Wind blew through the spires high on the city and the brook of humanity on the streets below burbled on.

Chat broke off the standoff. 

“Why? That was a _press conference_. He was a _part of the press_.”

“He was an _asshole_ ,” Ladybug hissed, blood pressure spiking at the mere _thought_ of that bastard. “And shouldn’t have been hired in the first place.”

Chat slumped, and Ladybug, seeing it, tried not to droop as well. 

He was _disappointed_ in her. 

She’d been expecting anger, but not disappointment.

“Ladybug. He’s forty-two years old, an alpha, the head of a famous gossip magazine, and the head of a well-established pack, and you _punched him across a room_. On his own territory.”

Ladybug could see his point, but just the fact that he’d _told_ Chat all of that meant that he’d been trying to pick Chat up like a hooker at a bar, and she desperately, _desperately_ wished she’d been allowed to rip his throat out.

(Chat was hers hers hers hers hers _hers_. It might not be official, and it might never be official, but Chat was _hers_ , and if _that fucker_ thought he could just—)

Chat touched his fingertips to his temples and sighed again. “I just want to know _why_.”

Ladybug bit her lip and didn’t answer.

“You know as well as I do that this is going to have consequences.”

“What consequences? To _who?_ ” she snapped, frustration clamping vice-tight around her throat. “We’re _packless_ , the both of us. There’s no one he can take action against. Not even us.”

Chat flinched, and Ladybug registered the hurt seconds too late.

“Oh…” Chat scrubbed a palm across is bicep, and suddenly his folded arms looked a lot more like a hug for himself than an expression of disapproval. “Right.”

Ladybug couldn’t breathe. Every instinct was screaming at her to protectprotectprotect, to stroke his hair and beg for forgiveness and rip into whatever had caused him pain with teeth and claws and _rage_ until it was dead and gone.

But she couldn’t. He wasn’t hers. Couldn’t be hers. They both knew that.

She felt _sick_.

Chat sighed again, straightening his shoulders (—strong, brave, unaffected — _not_ —) and putting his hands on his hips (— _let me fix it, let me help, let me lay you down and take care of you, love you until you can’t remember what pain is_ —), and said, “You could have _talked_ to him, you know.”

“You were uncomfortable,” Ladybug finally muttered, spitting the confession like an admittance of guilt.

Chat blinked, stymied. “What?”

“You were uncomfortable,” she said a little louder, feeling her face and stomach burn in shame. “And I lost it.” She rubbed the back of her head. “Sorry.”

Chat blinked again. “Oh.”

Ladybug drew in a slow breath and let it out slower, waiting for the verdict.

_Damn_ omega heat cycles.

He rubbed the back of his head, thoughtful, and said in a measured tone, “You still could have talked to him, you know.”

“I know,” Ladybug echoed quietly, swallowing down on the mess of hurt and rage and longing roiling in her stomach.

“But…”

She looked up.

Chat graced her with a crooked little smile. “Thank you.”

She felt her chest nearly collapse with the weight of her relief.

He offered his fist and she met it halfway, dangerously close to tears.

“Mission failed,” he said, lightly, almost teasingly. “But that’s okay. We’ve got this.”

Voice gone, Ladybug could only smile.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one takes place chronologically prior to the last two chapters, just fyi o/

There were times when Marinette really hated omega heat cycles and their effect on alphas like herself. This was not one of those times.

Juleka, head pillowed on Marinette’s chest, made a tiny noise of pleasure at the way her hair was being stroked, and Marinette’s heart swelled.

“Do you need anything else?” she asked, thick and sweet, pushing Juleka’s hair away from her eyes and getting distracted by the softness of it.

”Nah,” Juleka whispered, looking flushed and miserable as she clung to Marinette’s torso. “’M okay.”

Marinette offered her the water bottle she had on hand anyway, and Juleka took it but didn’t drink.

Juleka had forgotten her suppressants this morning, as the class had discovered halfway through English, and Marinette had been sent to take her to the nurse’s office for emergency replacements. 

Marinette really should have headed back by now, but had been lobbied into playing fetch-and-carry first for the nurse, then Juleka herself, and had then been lobbied into being Juleka’s body pillow, hot water bottle, and scented candle in one while they waited for the dose to kick in. 

So here she was. 

It was probably all horribly against regulations, but the nurse was standing by and Juleka was miserable and what were regulations on that, really?

Chloé had been asked to take Marinette’s place, but had pitched a fit over the mere suggestion, which was _mystifying_ ; being here meant helping out a friend, skipping class, and cuddling with a pretty girl all at once. It was a win-win-win.

For Marinette, anyway.

For Juleka…

Juleka twitched sluggishly up to tuck her nose into the crook of Marinette’s neck, emitting a tiny, swallowed, discomfited mewl as she did so.

Marinette switched from stroking her hair to rubbing quiet, soothing circles over the arch of her friend’s back and hummed a soft tune in the back of her throat.

Juleka sighed and sank back into stillness, only her fluttering heartbeat and quick breathing left to suggest that she hadn’t fallen asleep on the spot.

“You don’t feel fidgety?” Marinette whispered, unable to raise her voice above that. Chat did, she knew from long patrols, and she’d been led to believe that was the norm. 

(She wondered, for the fourth time since she’d left class two hours ago, just how Chat dealt with his heats, and whether or not he had anyone to help him through them. For the fourth time in the past two hours, she firmly pushed the thought away.)

Juleka shook her head, a tiny motion that was almost a shiver and that nudged her nose against the column of Marinette’s throat. “No, th’ suppressants just make me tired.”

Marinette hugged her tighter, chest squeezing sweetly at the touch and the rattle in her voice.

“ _Julie, Julie!_ ”

Marinette instinctively tightened her grip, then loosened it when It was Rose’s voice that registered.

Rose herself appeared a moment later, busting into the infirmary and crawling up on the bed next to her paramour. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry I couldn’t—”

Juleka batted at Rose’s tiny hovering hands and caught one with a reassuring smile. “Hi.”

Rose visibly melted. “…Hi.”

Marinette looked away, searching the room for the nurse and feeling a hard knot of jealousy gather in the back of her throat that she refused to touch.

(She still didn’t know if there was anyone to help Chat.)

Instead, she found Adrien and Mylené standing in the doorway.

_Meep_.

She waved, embarrassed, and tried not to visibly sink at the identical warm, almost laughing grins that crossed their faces.

(Yeah, yeah, her being putty in Juleka’s hands was cute, she _got_ it. Ugh.)

“It’s break already?” she said, studiously ignoring many things, from their grins to the lovers practically canoodling on top of her to the urge to pull the blanket covering Juleka over her own head. “What did I miss?”

“Not much,” Adrien said, soft and warm enough to send a little shiver down her spine. He handed her a page of handwritten notes and a chip for her tablet as Mylené snuggled in on her other side. Taking in the sight, he paused a moment, and then added, “You look cozy.”

‘Cozy’ was one word for it. 

‘Covered head to toe in pretty girls’ were a few more.

Marinette had exactly zero objections to any of it.

She beamed and spread her arms as if to offer a him hug, cocky and happy and inviting. “Always room for one more.”

“I’ll… keep that in mind,” said Adrien with a wry look, in a tone that said he was going to do no such thing.

“Offer’s open,” said Marinette, ever the optimist, as Adrien leaned over her to touch Juleka’s shoulder in quiet support and then turned to leave.

He just waved as he exited, probably to hang out with Nino or something, and vanished.

Marinette sank back onto the pillows with a disappointed sigh.

When she opened her eyes again, she was met with not one, not two, but three very knowing, teasing grins.

_Gnurk_.

Why did she want these people to be her pack again?


End file.
